By Stefan Djordjevic / sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
The Basketball Champions League Playoffs tipped off with seven matchups and the new format brought forward lots of excitement already.
How competitive the ongoing postseason will be could be seen first-hand by the reigning champions. Hereda San Pablo Burgos was chasing from behind throughout the whole game against VEF Riga and needed a clutch performance by Jasiel Rivero in order to just barely grab a win after overtime.
There will also be some domestic duels this year and the first one was in Turkey as Pinar Karsiyaka once again beat Tofas this season, for the third time. Amath M’Baye was leading the charge for the victors.
Aside from Brugos, two other Spanish teams also sealed wins. Lenovo Tenerife routed Igokea while Casademont Zaragoza got a big road win against Dinamo Sassari thanks to a perfect display by Jonatha Barreiro.
Brose Bamberg also felt on its skin to bigger challenge as they suffered their first loss this season in BCL. And it came by the hands of ERA Nymburk and Brose’s former player Retin Obasohan who had a key role in the outcome.
Turk Telekom brought in some reinforcements for the postseason in Marcus Foster and Johnny O’Bryant and they immediately fit in, although the leaders remained the same – Nick Johnson and Kyle Wiltjer.
Happy Casa Brindisi and Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon closed the Week 1 action as the latter went full offense from the three-point range and managed to take the win thanks to a last-minute run to turn things around.
Group I
Pinar Karsiyaka – Tofas Bursa 78-70
Happy Casa Brindisi – Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon 85-87
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Pinar Karsiyaka | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
78 | 70 | 8 | 78 | 70 | 2 |
| 2 | Hapoel Unet-Credit Holon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
87 | 85 | 2 | 87 | 85 | 2 |
| 3 | Happy Casa Brindisi | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
85 | 87 | -2 | 85 | 87 | 1 |
| 4 | Tofas Bursa | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
70 | 78 | -8 | 70 | 78 | 1 |
Group J
Hereda San Pablo Brugos – VEF Riga 76-75
Igokea – Lenovo Tenerife 62-82
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Lenovo Tenerife | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
82 | 62 | 20 | 82 | 62 | 2 |
| 2 | Hereda San Pablo Burgos | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
76 | 75 | 1 | 76 | 75 | 2 |
| 3 | VEF Riga | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
75 | 76 | -1 | 75 | 76 | 1 |
| 4 | Igokea | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
62 | 82 | -20 | 62 | 82 | 1 |
Group K
Turk Telekom – SIG Strasbourg 83-76
Nizhny Novgorod – AEK (postponed)
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Türk Telekom | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
83 | 76 | 7 | 83 | 76 | 2 |
| 2 | SIG Strasbourg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
76 | 83 | -7 | 76 | 83 | 1 |
| 3 | AEK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Nizhny Novgorod | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Group L
ERA Nymburk – Brose Bamberg 91-87
Dinamo Sassari – Casademont Zaragoza 83-95
| GAMES | STREAK | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | Last 5 | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Casademont Zaragoza | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
95 | 83 | 12 | 95 | 83 | 2 |
| 2 | ERA Nymburk | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100 |
|
91 | 87 | 4 | 91 | 87 | 2 |
| 3 | Brose Bamberg | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
87 | 91 | -4 | 87 | 91 | 1 |
| 4 | Dinamo Sassari | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
|
83 | 95 | -12 | 83 | 95 | 1 |
Photo Credit: Basketball Champions League